NEW STATUS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18894, 8 January 1927, Page 10

NEW STATUS.

DOMINION OF CANADA.

EMPIRE RELATIONS. FBO!£ J. SriCIAL COEBZSPOXDEKT. ■ VANCOUVER. December 15. Heralded as the-conquering liero wno has secured the alteration of the unwritten constitution which governed the British Empire, Mr Mackenzie King, Primo Minister of Canada, has arrived home from the Imperial Conlerence. No statesman or writer has yet made clear just what the Dominion of Canada has gained by the new statusconferred on her by the conference, although it is generally conceded that Mr Mackenzie king's views, more than those of any other Dominion uime Minister, with the exception of General Herteog, Prime Minister of South Africa, find expression in the concessions awarded by the British Government to the Dominions. A hint as to what was coming was made a week before the issue of the new constitution. It was ridiculed by that section of the people, possibly onethird of the electors, who would have been quite content for the 6tatus quo ante to be perpetuated, and who would have gone further, in approving the adoption by Canada of a fair share of the cost of Imperial defence. But, despite the ridicule, the hint was based on fact.

What appears to this minority, loyal to the old form 3of Empire, to be equally ridiculous, is the interpretation put by Liberal writers in Canada on the new constitution,, and what itmay mean to Canada. It might -be logical, therefore, to give these views some consideration. Some of them f;o sn far as to say that his Majesty the Killer is authorised to take up his residence in Ottawa, if he chooses, and to administer the British Empire from there. That he is equally empowered to rule his subjects from a base set up for liim in Melbourne, or Canberra. He may, says one influential Liberal publicist, send his governor over to London to represent him with the English people. This latter viewpoint is expressed m American papers by .writers domiciled in Canada. They go further, and say that, without a single shot being fired, without controversy, and with the bulk' of her people as yet unaware of :t, Canada has attained all that the United States in the revolutionary war' which .preceded the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. And that, though there is no indication of it as yet, Canada may, if she wishes walk out of the new combination, and go her way, as Ameria did. Imagine what nice, easy reading this is for the ordinary American' citiTo do the United States paners justico they did not gloat over the decision of the Prime Ministers, and the concessions granted by Great Britain, although it was stated by leading newspaper organs that the British Empire, as it was known before November, 1926, had ceased to exist. One national organ went so far as to depict the decision in a. cartoon (svndicated throughout America) of a hefty lion, standing at the top of the entrance to the Imperial Conference, a t>ipe in its month to indicate its identity as Mr.Baldwin, announcing to a lot of very young, undeveloned cubs at the foot of the steps that henceforth the British JJominions would be on an equal footing with Great Britain. . America looks to Canada for a | lead in its commentary on Imperial politics; and the lesson of such observations aS are" now being made is not Ipst. _ Indeed, it provides. jl. ..pleasing . solatium for those, apostles. .of., annexation whogot such a .hsrdy act-ba'p.k' nn' the occasion of the last election campaign. For, since the first step to dissolution of Empire partnership is seen by American eyes. in . the new status granted the-Dominions/ so • American ears will become pleasantly attuned to hearing public < expression of the thought of an autonomous Canada, with an ultimate end to fiscal warfare in peaceful absorption. And the thought is the more ..welcome,' with ' President Coolidge's pronouncement still echoing in their ears, that America has a standing army of 550,000, greater than any since the days of the two-Power standard of a generation ago, a navy that has no superior, and world supremacy in the air.: • *

The tumult and.the shouting of the aggressive self-government group' have broken out again,-with the. return of its. hero, metaphorically with":the' scalp of the British Empire at its belt. But there are-voices still crying out, in the wilderness, and their warning may be given heed yet. ■ Two eiperienfeed organs, at opposite sideß ofthe' country, in Montreal and are asking the people pertinent questions regarding their new status. Will the British taxpayer, bowed down under, the weight of the cost of the defence of the Empire, continue peaceably to bear • the burden? Britain, impoverished by seven months of strike, with its losses ramifying out into every avenue of human industry and activity, might take to making New Year Resolutions regarding economy, to make up the huge leeway of trade lost to her foreign competitors. Will those Yesolutions affect the 'cost of the defence of the Empire? Will the Army and Navy Estimates be based on the policy of keeping, man for man, ship for ship, plane for plane, in lino with "America's defence appropriations? What will the British taxpayer think of it all? What will John Bull's competitors abroad think? Will they see the traditional homogeneity of the British Empire undisturbed by' the new constitution? Will they consider, on the other hand, .that John Bull has been left nothing, but his history, to console him? Will the disputatious atmosphere of the League of Nations be cleared by British tolerance and diplomacy bo easily as in the past? These are some of the questions that aro being asked of those who are now acclaiming Mr Mackenzie King, P has in the last year tasted more triumphs than any Primo Minister since Confederation, sixty years ago. After having suffered apparent discredit from the Customs scandals, barely escaping defeat on the'floor of the House, resigning, out-mantßUvring. Mr Meighen, defeating him in ah election,-he emerges with.oner of the biggest in the history- of, the British Empire. The early future will see whether he, and.Canada with him, will assume the new responsibility that goes wi now nationhood. For, after all, the mother lion still holds the family purse.